Sunday, October 16, 2016

Numidian Light Cavalry - 1st Corps

When I orered my Hussites earlier this year, I threw in some more Numidian Light Cavalry. As my 25/28mm Carthaginian armies have expanded over the years, the contingent of these famously skilled horsemen became disproportionately small. Hannibal sent out the order to recruit more, and they are now ready for action!

I got one Command pack and one regular pack. I think the fellow on the far right is supposed to have a conch shell trumpet or something in his hand.

I'm not sure I like the blue shields on this unit. The turquoise color is lovely, bu it seems too bright for these horsemen; I think I may repaint them black (and leave the blue bits otherwise).

The figures are nicely sculpted, and had little flash.

Nice detail sculpted on the rope holters.

I used the "Officer" figure from the command pack to ad some variety to this second small unit.

Quite dynamic poses! I found surprisingly few manufacturers do Numidians in 28mm; they are notably lacking from the Old Glory range, for example,

I think I may dry brush the hair to bring out some of the detail and decrease the shine from the varnish.

I used the "Goop" for gluing the Javelins, shields, and riders, and I have to say that it worked very well. It seems stronger than the Duco cement as well.

Update: I acted on my inclinations, and also took Phil's suggestion. I painted the yellow shields over with Raw Sienna, and the blue ones with Black. I also dry brushed the hair with CC Hippo Grey.

I then used my index finger to make spots, using Craftsmart Bisque on the black shields and Craftsmart Khaki on the brown ones. I feathered the edges a bit with an old brush with splayed bristles. Much better! Thank you, Phil!

my old Numidians are done with shades of brown for the shields; as I said, I think I will change to solid black, might even do red-brown for the yellow. My attempts to do cowhide in the past haven't come out well!

Peter, are you sure these are BTD? I don't recall seeing Numidian cavalry in their product listing. The horses and the sculpting of the horsemen's hand/javelin connection reminds me very much of 1st Corps figures.

Done; it does also reinforce my point about the scarcity of these horsemen in 28mm. Tat is odd for a troop type that seemed especially key to Hannibal's success. When the Numidians aided Rome, he was unable to replace them.

Nice figures and work!... as for the shield patterns, a quick fix is what I do sometimes, ink (using any color) your thumb and stamp the shield with your thumb print. you will get a "zebra" impression on the Numidian shields :o)